More Time Off Between Shifts Urged For Air Traffic Controllers

WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal safety investigators urged regulatorsTuesday to provide air traffic controllers with more time offbetween shifts to prevent dangerous fatigue. The National Transportation Safety Board issued two safetyrecommendation letters designed to reduce fatigue and improvevigilance of controllers. The recommendations were based on itsongoing investigation of the Aug. 27 Comair crash that killed 49people on take-off from Lexington, Ky., and on investigations of 10earlier crashes or close calls. Without reaching conclusions on the causes of the Kentuckycrash, the board noted that the controller who cleared the ComairBombardier for the early-morning takeoff had only a two-hour napduring nine hours off before his shift. The board said thecontroller did not notice the plane had turned onto the wrongrunway - one too short for a commercial jet - because, thecontroller said, he had turned away from the window to perform anadministrative task. The board said fatigue played a role in these close calls: -At Chicago's O'Hare airport on March 23, 2006, a controllerworking on four hours sleep cleared two jetliners to take off onthe same runway. -At Los Angeles International on Aug. 19, 2004, a controllerwith five to six hours sleep cleared one jet to take off from arunway another jet was about to land on. -At Denver International on Sept. 25, 2001, a controller workingwith 60-90 minutes sleep allowed a cargo jet to take off from aclosed runway with construction equipment at the end. -At Seattle-Tacoma International on July 8, 2001, a controllerwith three hours sleep allowed a jetliner to taxi across a runwayanother jet was landing on. The board urged the Federal Aviation Administration and theNational Air Traffic Controllers Association, which represents aircontrollers, to cooperate to revise work schedules "to providerest periods that are long enough for controllers to obtainsufficient restorative sleep" and to modify shift rotations "tominimize disrupted sleep patterns." "We'll certainly take a hard look at scheduling with the union,but many of the schedules that we have in place are at the requestof our employees," FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown. She said thecontract calls for at least eight hours off between shifts, but theFAA negotiates how controllers rotate through shifts with unionlocals at each facility. "This is a very welcome report," said Doug Church, spokesmanfor the controllers union. "We're ready to meet tomorrow morning.This discussion has to be had and goes to the core of aviationsafety." Negotiations on a new contract broke down in April 2006, and theFAA imposed work rules last September, Church said. "They wanted to take back the ability to control the schedule.There is an understaffing problem and controllers are being askedto come in for mandatory overtime," Church added. "The FAA didaway with ability of controllers to use sick leave if they are notrested enough," as the previous contract allowed. The board praised the FAA for researching fatigue but flayed theagency for failing to act on it. The board noted the FAA had notacted on a recommendation by its own fatigue researchers in 2001 toevaluate work schedules at its facilities to provide longer restperiods. "Little progress has been made to revise controller-schedulingpolicies and practices in light of the latest research findings,"the board wrote. "Because of the lack of FAA action on this issue,controllers frequently operate in a fatigued state and the actionneeded now must go beyond simple evaluations." The board said current regulations allow a controller to workfour 10-hour shifts in 72 hours with eight hours off betweenshifts, although the contract called for eight-hours shifts on fiveconsecutive days. It said 61 percent of controllers work shifts that start earliereach day of the week. One in four controllers works at least onemidnight shift a week, typically starting eight-hour shifts at 3p.m. the first day, then 2 p.m., 7 a.m., 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. Such schedules change too rapidly for body rhythms to adapt andoppose normal sleep-wake patterns, which work better with shiftsthat start later each day, the board said. The time off between dayfour and five is "especially problematic because controllersadapted to night sleeps must return to work an overnight shiftafter a short rest period during the afternoon and early evening." The board also recommended the FAA and union train controllersin how to schedule sleep and limit interruptions during their timeoff. A separate letter to the FAA recommended the FAA expand to allcontrollers its training program in how to manage tasks at work toensure vigilance. --- On the Net: NTSB: http://ntsb.gov/

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